Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1918 — MILITARY POST THAT WAS NAMED FOR WASHINGTON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MILITARY POST THAT WAS NAMED FOR WASHINGTON

Carlisle, Pa_ Claims to Have Had Within Its Limits a Station of Importance That Antedates the National Capital by Many Years—Made First Move for American Liberty. CARLISLE. Pal. claims tn have Lad wvhin Its limits the first place (Washtogtonburg) in the t'nir-d States to be mimed for Washington and to have the <«. i- ■< t,, -*-;. •_ L-»nse west of the SusWM hinny. r~T..r.-. : r the germ of American. liberty ,wxs conceived. . Access to hidden records and facts btaried. in state archives is rewriting hist ry and a lately discovered Paper’ by the late Christian P. Humrieh. Esq., discloses the: fact that •»& the present site of the Ustted St a: - Imtian school-at CarItsie in pserevetntionary times was an csob&dnnent • t “recognized importanee; and cf great historical interest,” bgin as W •aburg. ■, N< r> -d is found in state or county .off its .xi-t>-t>-e. but research shows ttat it -i~ quite an important place anzl ■arc, rban a suburb of Carlisle. It was a national and not a state es-

r menr. for tOd. Flower. Commis-sary-General of Military Stores,” reqpi—xs that he might have “Carpenters, Farriers- Gun Smiths, Tinmen- Sad.dßers and Shoemakers” for work at rhis place. Coal Used Industrially. Dr-Obariss F. Himes of Dickinson •epßege'Writes: “It was, too, an np-to «£■»-<- .or rather, away-ahead-of-date, establishment. at least in regard to feat emptoyed. for anthracite coal from ’WTSest arre region was floated down tt>e SaSQUjehanna and hauled in wagons fintan Harris’ Feriy (Harrisburg) to this pc inx. This was the first- use of sss«db t al. on such a scale, and for indffissrfai purposes.” Evidence of the large force of workmen employed is found in a meat bill, dated February 7, 17*1. for 150 head of beef cattle to ■apply the artificers and others at Washlngronburz. at the “Continental wades near Carfisee” The contention is that this military

post was the first place in the United States to be named for Washington and that its existence antedates by years Washington, D. C. When General Washington was In Carlisle during the whisky rebellion he, with Alexander Hamilton, worshiped in the “Old Presbyterian Meeting House” on the public square in Carlisle, and it was in this identical meeting house, on July 12, 1774, a year before the Mecklenburg declaration, a public meeting of patriotic citizens gathered-from the town and surrounding country, condemned the act 6f the British* parliament and urged vigorous measures to correct the wrong. Col. John Montgomery was the presiding officer. James Wilson was present and was appointed one of the members of the committee to meet with other committees to take action. He was later a member of the Continental congress, a signer of the Declaration and a justice of the Supreme court. Wing’s history states, “and when in the Continental congress he received instructions from his constituents in Cumberland county to advocate an entire separation from the mother country. This was probably the first utterance of that sentiment of the country.” Bancroft’s Tribute to Wilson. Bancroft says of Wilson: “He was an ardent patriot, like many other eminent men of that day—not at first avowedly in favor of severance from the mother country, but he desired it when he received definite instruction from his constituents.” Bellman, writing of the potency of this meeting held in the “Old Meeting House”.on July 12, 1774, says: “The influence, therefore, of the meeting, or of subsequent instructions to which it gave rise, seems to have determined the action of Pennsylvania in that great crisis which men even like John Dickiqson were too timid or too cowardly to meet.” The' vote of James Wilson determined the vote of Pennsylvania. Had Pennsylvania failed to accept the resolution we today would be under another flag. . Philadelphia may be considered “The birthplace of American liberty,” but its conception in the “Old Presbyterian Meeting House,” in Carlisle, Cumberland county. Pennsylvania, made it possible to be born. The Scotch-Irish part in the Revolutionary war and the events preceding it is becoming more apparent and important. and the actions taken in the Presbyterian meeting Imuses throughout Pennsylvania are vital to historic recital.

James Wilson.